President Trump’s tariffs are nothing but welfare for failing industries—proof that when government picks winners, taxpayers always lose. Free markets don’t need training wheels, but tariffs are just that: a crutch for industries that refuse to evolve.
When President Trump says he wants to make American manufacturing great again, it sounds like he's trying to glue back together a broken factory with duct tape and patriotism. Let’s be honest with ourselves: Trump’s goal to stage a great American manufacturing comeback is a noble and seductive goal. But a seductive goal without a sound plan is just a dangerous flirtation with economic disaster. And unfortunately, tariffs won’t deliver that comeback. They’ll just make things worse—like trying to grow crops by blocking the sun.
Here’s the real story. In America today, services account for over 80% of all non-farm jobs, while manufacturing makes up less than 10%. This isn't some liberal talking point—it’s cold, hard economic reality. America doesn’t build its wealth with factories full of sparks and smoke anymore. It builds wealth with intellectual horsepower, ideas, and services that flow through fiber optic cables, not conveyor belts.
President Trump talks as if the U.S. trade deficit is proof that America is being “ripped off.” But here’s the kicker: when it comes to services, America actually runs a trade surplus with the rest of the world. In fact, America exports more services than it imports. The surplus in services has been steady and growing. And that’s because America’s main exports aren’t cars or steel beams—they’re software and software services, entertainment, financial services, and other intangible things. These are where the real money is.
Take the iPhone as an example. It might cost $100 to manufacture—most of that money going to countries like China or Vietnam. But it sells for $700 or more. Why? Because the value is in the design, branding, software, marketing, and sales strategy—areas where America dominates. We own the magic, even if others make the hardware.
And let’s not forget SWIFT—the global banking network. America controls it. Every bank across the world needs it to move money. America can sanction a country and freeze their assets simply because it owns this plumbing of the global economy. That's raw financial power.
But wait, there’s more. America dominates in entertainment. From Hollywood movies to Netflix series, America’s cultural exports reach billions of eyes and ears across the globe. It’s hard to find a corner of the world that isn’t humming along to Taylor Swift or quoting lines from Marvel films.
Then there’s Big Tech. Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta—these are not just American companies; they’re planetary platforms. They deliver cloud services, data infrastructure, advertising technologies, and e-commerce logistics to businesses worldwide. You don’t need a trade show to sell these products—they’re already embedded into global business models. And here's the part Trump doesn’t get: we don’t run deficits here. We run surpluses. We own the digital highways.
And let’s not forget financial services. Wall Street isn't just a street—it’s a global control room. American banks and investment firms manage trillions of dollars for clients around the world. When a sovereign wealth fund in Singapore wants to invest, it often does it through JPMorgan or Goldman Sachs. This is American control without boots or tariffs—just smart, strategic dominance.
President Trump might want to bring steel jobs back to Pennsylvania and coal jobs back to West Virginia, but here’s a brutal truth: automation and global market efficiencies have already buried those jobs. Tariffs won’t resurrect them. Trying to do so is like trying to stream Netflix on a VCR.
The problem is that President Trump still doesn’t seem to understand the theory of comparative advantage—the simple economic idea that countries should do what they do best and trade for the rest. Trying to force America to make everything it consumes is like telling a surgeon to sew their own scrubs and sterilize their own tools before each operation. It’s not just inefficient—it’s absurd.
Tariffs may look patriotic. They sound tough. But they function like taxes on American consumers and businesses. When Trump slaps a 25% tariff on imported steel, guess who pays? American manufacturers, who then raise prices. American consumers, who face inflation. And American exporters, who get hit by retaliatory tariffs from other countries. It’s a self-inflicted wound, dressed up in red, white, and blue.
And what has it achieved so far? The trade deficit hasn't vanished—it’s grown. China didn’t collapse—they found new trading partners. American farmers got hit with retaliatory tariffs and had to be bailed out with billions in government subsidies. So much for free-market capitalism.
You can’t bring back a 1950s economy with 1930s policies in a 2025 world. If Trump wants to help workers, he should focus on job retraining, better education, and investment in new industries. Robotics, renewable energy, artificial intelligence, biotech—these are the arenas where American dominance will matter tomorrow. You don’t win the next war by polishing old swords.
A wise man once said, “Don’t try to row upstream when the current is pulling you forward.” Yet here we are, watching the president row furiously in the wrong direction, demanding that the river change course.
Here’s what’s ironic: while President Trump claims to be a capitalist, tariffs are just socialism for old industries. They pick winners and losers. They protect the past instead of building the future. And they let government—not the free market—decide which sectors deserve to survive.
And still, Trump clings to tariffs like a rusty tool in a modern toolbox, convinced that squeezing foreign competitors will revive American greatness. But America doesn’t need to squeeze—it needs to lead. Lead in what we’re good at. Lead in what the world wants from us.
I don’t need to tell you what happens when you put a tollbooth on a global freeway. Traffic finds another route. And that’s exactly what other countries are doing—finding ways to bypass America’s heavy-handed policies.
So if President Trump thinks he’s going to tariff his way to prosperity, he should remember the old American proverb: "You can’t tax your way out of a recession, and you can’t tariff your way into greatness."
But maybe that’s too much economics for a man who thinks a trade war is a chess game with only one player.
Let’s just hope he doesn’t try to fix the national debt with Monopoly money next.
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